Posse Incitatus

Down to the Wire

Thought I'd better take a break from sexual misconduct -- at least for a few days...

Today's commentary pertains to the Senate tax bill. The full Senate has begun debating the landmark legislation, and may vote as soon as tonight.

I have not had the self-discipline or inclination to take a (CLICHE ALERT!) "deep dive" into the specifics and tweaks of the tax legislation. But it seems to me that a few key sticking points are repeal of the Obamacare mandate, the size of the corporate tax reduction, the need for more tax relief for small businesses, and the size of the child tax credit.

Today's Wall Street Journal editorialized that Republicans should stand strong against a move by Senators Marco Rubio and Mike Lee to change the child tax credit from $2,000 to an amount up to a person's payroll tax liability. To compensate for the lost revenue, they propose reducing the corporate rate from 35 to 22 percent, not 20 percent, as the legislation proposes and President Trump supports.

Maine Sen. Susan Collins and a few others have expressed concerns that revoking the Obamacare mandate will lead to rate increases. (Like rate increases would not happen otherwise? What a joke.) I do agree that sole proprietorships and other small businesses should get a bigger tax break. Having done freelance and contract work myself in the past, I'm here to tell you that the social security tax bite alone is painful. An employer pays half of the 12.4 percent rate, but those who are self-employed pay the entire 12.4 percent, plus federal and state taxes. But I don't think this issue should gum up the works.

I have no idea what's going on behind closed doors as Senate leaders and President Trump attempt to A) strong-arm; or B) sweet-talk the stubborn GOP holdouts who have expressed reservations about the tax bill in its present form. They are mainly Rubio, Collins, Rand Paul, Jeff Flake, Bob Corker, Lisa Murkowski and John McCain, who may well be a lost cause. (Wouldn't it be delicious if the bill passed, 51-49, with McCain being the GOP's only "no" vote? It would underscore his petulant, bitter uselessness. Helluva legacy to leave behind, John!)

The Journal editorial chastised Rubio and Lee for being "antithetical to conservative principles." It will be a crying shame if purists torpedo this bill, because this may well be our last chance for major tax cuts and the beginning of reform. I say this because the Republican Party is clearly moving left, albeit at a much slower rate than the Democrats.

The relentless dumbing down of our citizens through social media, the leftist indoctrination at universities and in K-12 schools, and continued demographic changes will make rational tax reform difficult, if not impossible to achieve in the not-too-distant future.

I am keeping my fingers crossed, but most likely will be sound asleep when the final vote is cast. Think of Roger Daltrey in "Who Are You" croaking, "God, there's GOT to be another way!"

The Pervy Home Companion

I admit that I had grown bored with the constant churn of leftist gropers, but the latest round of firings certainly got my attention.

It’s fascinating that neither Matt Lauer nor Garrison Keillor were even given a chance to apologize.  Apparently their sins were too great for redemption. 

Keillor is particularly interesting since – like Franken – he comes from wholesome, whitebread Minnesota.  He made his name as the sage of the Prairie Home Companion, which folks under 30 have probably never even heard of.  So much for Minnesota Nice.

However, for older folks, it was essentially an old-time radio show complete with mock commercials that ran on public radio.  It was a thing back when David Letterman was on NBC.

Last I heard, Keillor had all but given up on his folksy short-stories and had given himself over to being a Democrat attack dog – just like Al Franken, whom he recently tried to defend.

Franken and Keillor are both intelligent men.  Both come across as “safe” and as Democrats they were officially feminists in good standing.

That – and their power – is what allowed them to victimize women for so long.  They clearly benefited from a political environment in which “the ends justify the means” and because the personal is political, feminists were urged to overlook the fact that their comrades-in-arms frequently grabbed their asses without asking.

It was all for the glorious cause, you see.

This helps explain why the Dems have constantly claimed that the GOP is worse than the Taliban and that we’re literally living in The Handmaid’s Tale.  I used to figure this was just paranoid delusion, but I think it’s clear that Democrat men needed these fantasies out there to justify their predatory behavior.

“Oh, you think we’re bad?  Well let me tell you something, little miss!  We’re the last thing standing between you and literal slavery.  So you better shut up about that little thing I did.”

There is a rich irony that all of these scum have had their secret crimes exposed with – of all people – Donald J. Trump in the White House.

Once again, The Donald is demonstrating his uncanny ability for making his enemies destroy themselves.

Strangely, I’m still not tired of winning.

Channeling Anger

Just when you think Congress can't get any worse -- when corruption, ineptitude, hypocrisy, degeneracy and arrogance have engulfed this institution -- well, along comes the ugly sexual harassment revelations and a $15 million slush (or shush) fund created to pay off victims of congressional predators and sweep things under the rug.

It is tempting to get so utterly disgusted and fed up with the reprobates and blowhards in Congress, that you just throw up your hands and think, "What's the use of getting angry? Some things never change." Pigs are slobs wallowing in the mud. Rats are nasty and hang out in sewer pipes. Bed bugs and cock roaches are unpleasant realities in our world. And Congress is a cesspool full of degenerates. Voter apathy and corrosive, bitter cynicism threaten to swallow us whole.

Of course, there can be redress at the ballot box, such as in 1994 when voters, disgusted with Bill Clinton's early missteps and the institutional rot made manifest by the House post office scandal elected the first Republican House majority in four decades. Obamacare and other statist policies by the haughty autocrat Barack Obama led to Republican routs in the 2010 and 2014 congressional elections. So some things can change; but the question is, does it really do any good?

The Republicans have shown themselves to be inept administrators who can't get out of their own way.  Some of them are corrupt or guilty of moral turpitude, but probably not to the extent of their counterparts on the other side of the aisle. (There are far more nihilistic, secular progressives in the Democrat Party than in the GOP, so it stands to reason a greater percentage of them are perverts. When you don't believe in ultimate accountability, that opens the floodgates to moral depravity.)

Even so, it's safe to say that the majority of Republicans play the "go-along-to-get-along" game with Democrats, and were loath to let the public know about the infamous slush fund and the Office of Compliance (another appalling entity) which makes victims of sexual misconduct jump through hoops to have their day in court.

From the Washington Post:

Under a process put in place in 1995, a claimant has 180 days after an alleged incident to give written notice to the Office of Compliance. Even to file a complaint, the accuser has to call the office to get an online password to access the form.

Next, they must go through a counseling process that typically lasts 30 days. An OOC counselor — acting as a neutral party — informs accusers of their rights and discusses how the law might apply to their situation.

After counseling, an accuser must go through mediation for roughly another 30 days. During that time, the OOC notifies the claimant’s employing office and appoints a professional mediator to try to resolve the complaint.

If mediation is unsuccessful, the accuser may ask for an administrative hearing or file a case in federal civil court. The allegation and the case remain confidential, except in limited circumstances.

What bullshit! The bastards use our hard-earned dollars to cover up their shenanigans, make victims go through a convoluted, bureaucratic nightmare to have their complaints heard, and also keep the cases confidential. How convenient.

It's too bad term limits cannot be implemented for members of Congress. In 1995, the Supreme Court struck down states' right to limit their federal legislators' time in office. Several term limit amendment bills have been introduced in Congress, but they have failed to garner sufficient support.

A chief complaint by term limit opponents is that inexperienced lawmakers spend time learning the ropes, then when they finally catch on, it's time to leave. And while lawmakers work their way through the legislative "school," bureaucrats and lobbyists wield undue influence. This argument has some merit, but the disadvantages of term limits pale in comparison to the advantage of peeling the barnacles off the halls of Congress. 

Short of term limits, we must hope that voters rise up and throw out many of the useless, self-serving incorrigibles who sully Congress. We must put pressure on Congress to come clean regarding specifics of the sexual harassment settlements (the victims' names need not be revealed, but the accused members of Congress who settled should have no right to prevent their names from being divulged). After all they are public employees, and the standards are supposed to be higher for elected officials. If they don't like the accountability that comes with being so-called "leaders," and if having their deeds exposed in the harsh light makes them squirm...well, they have no business being in Congress.

I believe my disgust and contempt for Congress is shared by tens of millions of people. To employ an overused term, perhaps we have reached "critical mass" in undertaking a major fumigation of Congress. I look forward to seeing many of these insufferable egotists shamed in public, their careers and marriages in ruins. I'd better be careful -- an overdose of schadenfreude might be bad for my heart!

 

The cure for political overload

According to what I see on the internet, the United States is simmering with violence.  Vigilante groups prowl the streets and all is chaos and disaster.

Meanwhile, away from the online nonsense, I see an orderly place wrapping up a pleasant Thanksgiving weekend and looking forward to the holidays.

Much of what afflicts our society is essentially an illusion created by the flickering screen.  If one goes out and meets people face-to-face, there is civility, cooperation and nothing like the vile hatred one finds on the internet.

That's because it's easier to hate on an online profile or a distant figure than the person standing in line next to you or sitting at a nearby table.

I suppose I might around someone to wrath by attacking their life choices, or spouting off on politics, but why would I do that?  It's amazing how many interesting discussions you have with people without bringing politics into it.

Now this blog is of course highly political, but coming here is also voluntary.  Readers stumbling across the site quickly learn what they are getting and leave as it suits them.  That is a far differing thing than bringing talking points to Thanksgiving dinner (as the leftists are wont to do).

The worst thing the left has done is to try to politicize everything, making even a trip to the store or a passing family conversation subject to ideological scrutiny.  That way lies madness.

Happily, there is an escape.  A walk through the neighborhood, an afternoon at the park and even a quick trip to the store can demonstrate that away from the online fever swamps, things are pretty calm.

Another Lutheran church gone rogue

About a month ago I reflected on the mutant fruit produced by the Protestant Reformation.

Sweden has offered up one of the more comical examples:

The Church of Sweden has voted to adopt a controversial new handbook which says masculine references to God, such as “He” and “Lord” should be scrapped so as to be more “inclusive”.

Ah yes, the gospel of inclusion.  The strange thing about progressive Christianity is that the more it pushes inclusion, the fewer worshipers they have. 

Of course, that's because inclusion actually is a misnomer.  Their new books actually exclude a great deal.  By definition they have to, in order to put the stuff they want into the liturgy.

In fact, at its core liberal theology involves a great deal of exclusion since it requires discarding a number of doctrines that modern progressives have deemed "problematic."  What remains is - as a practical matter - indistinguishable from Unitarianism.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, but to claim a Christian affiliation when one isn't in any sense following that doctrine seems to be false advertising.

Again, I can't help but wonder what Martin Luther would think.  Selling indulgences is pretty small ball compared to this stuff.

 

The key part of Thanksgiving is actually being thankful

As is the new tradition, the coming of Thanksgiving is bringing the usual gripes that it's a racist, bigoted and hateful day when sensitive social justice warriors have to face the horrors of dealing with their less enlightened (or, as the kids say: "woke") relatives.

Missing in all of this noise is the essence of the day itself, which transcends ethnicity and religion.

Strange thought it may seem, we are living in the most prosperous time in human history.  Women in particular now enjoy a degree of freedom without precedent.

Yet from what I see on social media and across the interwebs, one would think we have been submerged into a new dark age of unending misery.

The reason for this is simple:  People are no longer thankful.  They look about them and see only imperfections and new causes for complaint.  Everything in problematic, everything is a micro-aggression.  Even the most harmless phrase has to be carefully examined for traces of political incorrectness.

No wonder these people are so miserable - that's a miserable way to live.

Here at the Posse, we take a different and healthier view.  We are not blind to the evils of this world - far from it.  In fact, it is because we have far greater knowledge of just how bad things can get that we are so thankful for what we have.

This is the true meaning of Thanksgiving and I hope all our readers take a moment to reflect on the good things that you have.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Falling Like Dominos

It is incredible how, since early October when the media began shining a light on Harvey Weinstein's sordid deeds, the "outing" of sexual harassers and abusers has accelerated to a frenetic pace. Judge Roy Moore, Senator Al Franken, Congressman John Conyers, comedian Louis C.K., actors Ben Affleck and Kevin Spacey, TV talk show host Charlie Rose, New York Times reporter Glenn Thrush, plus others in entertainment and the corporate world have either been fired, suspended or publicly chastised for sexual misconduct that runs the gauntlet from tenuous charges and obnoxious, childish behavior to outright assault and grotesquely obscene behavior.

I don't want to get into the weeds with specifics, but it is obvious some of these individuals are sick in the head -- utterly depraved. And while I fully acknowledge that sexual harassment takes place (I know of past friends who experienced ugly incidents of it, with the perpetrators not being brought to account), I also suspect that some women will see opportunities to advance their careers or enrich themselves by alleging harassment. In today's PC world, I can't help but wonder if "sexual harassment" is going to rival "RACIST!" as another tiresome "boy-who-cried-wolf" fiasco.

Perhaps the workplace will become so sterile, male employees will utterly avoid ever giving a sincere compliment to a female coworker (e.g., "I like your haircut" or "Man, that's a nice blouse"....). Asking a woman on a date might be as big a no-no as saying "Merry Christmas" in an ACLU office, or saying "God Bless you" after someone sneezes. It's not hard for the pendulum to swing rapidly from one extreme to the other.

As old as I am, I was a baby or toddler back in the "Mad Men" era (an entertaining TV series, if you haven't seen it). Blatant harassment and demeaning treatment of women is realistically depicted in that show about an early 1960s Madison Avenue advertising firm and the outrageous hanky panky that went on. But such extremes are no longer commonplace, although some would like to claim otherwise. Similarly, race baiters like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson disingenuously thunder that the Ku Klux Klan, lynchings and the burning of black churches are still a major threat. In their mind, we're just a fraction of a centimeter away from reverting to Bull Connor, fire hoses and German Shepherds. Most sane people know it's bullshit, but there's a surprisingly large number of gullible fools who buy into it.

But it is true: women employees did get the shaft (no crude pun intended) for too many years, and sadly, there are way too many men still around who are dirtbag "hound dogs." (No, K.N., I haven't been logging onto Gloria Steinem's web page or reading Glorida Allred's blog; I am just being a realist.) These men must be held accountable.

But it is incredible that, 50 years after feminism roared, and several decades after whistle-blower protection and other workplace laws were enacted, the excrement is just now hitting the oscillator. Could it be that what came to light 20 years ago with Slick Willie and his abusive treatment of women, including inside the Oval Office, was really just the tip of the iceberg? Is the dam going to burst wide open for Congress -- so much so that the contempt millions of Americans have for these charlatans will grow even stronger? It's a distinct possibility.

On the same token, I cannot help but think that many trial lawyers are dreaming sweet dreams of lucrative retainers and multi-million dollar settlements, with a blizzard of litigation to come. And the corrective measures designed to prevent monsters like Weinstein from preying upon female employees will undoubtedly be too heavy-handed for the many men who like to innocently flirt but pose no real danger to female employees.

Unquestionably, the law of unintended consequences will once again rear its ugly head. Just as some employers probably avoid hiring black employees for fear of being sued and/or getting bad publicity if the employee doesn't work out and must be fired, I suspect many small and medium sized businesses that cannot afford high-priced lawyers will avoid hiring women as a way of nipping in the bud any potential problems and the nightmare litigation, fines and bad publicity to follow.

It's a helluva mess, but dysfunction and chaos seem to be swallowing us up these days. Heaven help us.

How progressives use forgiveness to enable predators

Every time I see a new allegation of sexual assault or harassment, the first question I ask is:  Does this help or hurt Democrats?

If it helps them, it will remain on the front pages and legions of feminists will denounce the offender.

If it hurts them, legions of feminists will rise to explain away the crime.  Also, the accuser will be denounced as a nut or a slut.

As the body count of liberal/progressive men continues to rise, I was interested to see a new line enter into the discussion, one brought up in the comments to my previous thread:  forgiveness.

The argument is that since Al Franken's initial accuser has forgiven him, we should let it all go.  Apology accepted, so no problem, right?

Wrong.

It is critical for victims of violent crime - particularly one that violates them intimately like sexual assault - to get on with their lives.  Obsessing about it, nurturing a sense of grievance or seeking vengeance only increases the harm of the attack.

For their own mental health it is essential that they put the matter behind them.  The fact that so many have done so is a wonderful thing, but that does not lessen the severity of the offense or mean that the guilty should escape punishment.

To put it another way, forgiveness cannot be equated with a judicial or moral pardon.

Yet progressives are now arguing precisely this.  As usual, they have given zero thought to the long-term consequences.

It is already hard enough for women to call out powerful, abusive men.  To do so risks their professional career and personal ruin.

Creating a societal rule where a victim's forgiveness wipes away the offense would now create yet another obstacle between victims and justice.  We already know that Democrats have zero problem going after accusers if it suits their purposes.  In Franken's case, this was complicated by photographic evidence. 

But this isn't a problem if you can bully or guilt the victim into offering a public statement of forgiveness with the implicit promise that a failure to comply would result in even greater retaliation.

"Why can't she just let this go?"

"I can't believe how bitter she is!"

"It was so long ago, she needs to get a life!"

Basically, they would make reporting sexual assaults against popular figures even more difficult than it is now.

We know that a great many of these victims kept their mouths shut or accepted settlements because it was the path of least resistance. 

Creating a world where on top of all other things they could be coerced to publicly forgive their attacker is mind-boggling.

And if you don't think that people who will cover up this crap for decades won't stoop that low, I've got a bridge to sell you.  Doesn't anyone remember how when the victim of Roman Polanski's sexual assault forgave him, this was used as evidence that he should escape punishment for his perverted crime?  Are we shocked to know that he abused even more women who only now feel safe in coming forward?

I have to hand it to progressives.  Just when I think they can't treat women any worse, they never fail to surprise. 

The Age of Irresponsibility

Humanity has seen its Iron Age, Bronze Age, Golden Age and even the Age of Aquarius.

Thanks to the Baby Boomers, we're now in the Age of Irresponsibility.

The recent spate of sex scandals has really driven this home.  No one is responsible for their behavior.  When caught, they go into "therapy," which implies that something else was controlling their behavior.

After a few days or weeks of riding ponies, sitting in discussion circles, these people can then be pronounced "rehabilitated" and presumably go on to resume their careers.

It is a secular Rite of Reconciliation.

The big difference of course is that penitents have to actually own their sins before they can be forgiven.

You know, Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa and all that.  Yet today that key part is missing. 

"We may never know what happened."

"It's a tragedy." 

"If I offended anyone, I'm sorry."

Harry Truman famously declared "The buck stops here," but that adage has long since vanished.  For all the critics wishing to highlight Donald Trump's famous unwillingness to back down or apologize, I can only point them to his predecessor, who (in his own telling) made zero mistakes over eight years.  This was a man who could proclaim that he had a "scandal-free" term even as his Internal Revenue Service was embroiled in lawsuits regarding illegal political targeting of taxpayer groups.

In July of 1940 - the supreme crisis of the war for Great Britain - Winston Churchill sent the following message to his leadership:

Let it be very clearly understood that  all directions emanating from me are made in writing, or should be immediately afterwards confirmed in writing, and that I do not accept any responsibility for matters relating to national defence on which I am alleged to have given decisions, unless they are recorded in writing.

Hillary Clinton did the opposite - she deliberately hid all of her correspondence - official or otherwise - so that no one would ever know what her instructions were.  This allowed her to re-write history on her own terms.

Indeed, it's a telling contrast.  Churchill kept meticulous records so that he could, when all was said and done, defend his actions before history.

The current generation does the opposite, seeking to conceal their actions while fabricating documents to smear others.

And then they wonder why no one trusts them.

As I've written on this blog many times before, truth has a way of asserting itself.  At some point one can no longer spin the facts.  In Venezuela, starvation walks the streets; in the middle east, Iran has been bolstered by eight years of diplomatic fecklessness; in Western Europe, migrant gangs are turning once-quiet neighborhoods into no-go zones; Hollywood and Washington are effectively an open range for sexual predators and have been for decades with Democrats as the primary offenders.

All of these facts are at odds with the official spin.  They are truths that cannot be spoken, but they remain true.

Much of what is now happening can be seen as a system-wide self-correction, a restoration of natural equilibrium.

The political chaos in the United States is not unique.  It is happening across the world.   I was interested to see that Germany - safe, stable, establishment-ruled Germany where forbidden thoughts are banned by law - is still without a government.  A snap election looms and it will likely see the end of Angela Merkel's disastrous chancellorship.

In the UK, Theresa May is similarly facing an internal rebellion after her own electoral debacle.  Spain is on the brink of civil war.

These are supposed to be places where all the tough issues were worked out decades ago, where an establishment consensus reduced partisan disputes to marginal issues like increments of the tax code or how much more should be spent on alternative energy. 

The problem is that Europe's leaders also want to escape from responsibility. 

At some point, the people will demand action. They are already doing so, and because the "respectable" leaders won't even admit there is a problem, can anyone wonder that they turn to less savory individuals?

If the self-proclaimed elites want to retain their hold on power, they're going to have to not only propose solutions to society's problems, they are going to have to admit they actually exist.

 

Zimbabwe's army throws Hillary out of the country

It looks like the long, tortured reign of Robert Mugabe may finally be coming to an end.  Earlier this week Zimbabwe's army seized control of the country and placed the aged leader into "protective custody."  His hyper-ambitious wife, and would-be successor, "Gucci" Gloria, fled abroad.

Which just goes to show that even a bankrupt, third-world hellhole understands that being the president's wife isn't enough qualification to run the country.

It's worth reviewing the fact that despite all the media hype and fawning profiles, Hillary Clinton was spectacularly unqualified to lead the country.

She was a lousy lawyer, always skirting disaster with crooked land deals.  As first lady, she tried to use the White House travel office as a patronage gig, and made a botch of that as well.  She was a seat-warmer as a senator and a total write-off as Secretary of State.

All of these failures were predictable because she owed everything on her resume to her husband's patronage.

Most tellingly, when she finally tried to stand on her own, she suffered one of the most humiliating political defeats in history.

Truly, we all dodged a (metaphorical) bullet.

In Zimbabwe, they're dodging real ones, and given the neighborhood, I'm not even cautiously optimistic.

There is no bottom in Africa; things can always get worse.

What's interesting is that the one place they were willing to draw the line was a Hillary-type succession.  At least they have that going for them, which is nice.